[Kathryn Costanza]

I plan on sharing this information with every person I know or come into contact with who has young children. For years, I’ve been sharing resources about music therapy and advocating for the profession, but always in the context of therapy and the populations we can potentially work with. Now, the advocacy for music therapy can go much further than that by extending into the community at large. ALL children can benefit from music therapy, and ALL families can benefit from our techniques and skill-set. I plan on creating separate handouts with an overview of what Sprouting Melodies provides for the community for families, what Sprouting Melodies emphasizes in development and therapeutic application of music for other therapy modalities and administrators, and how Sprouting Melodies is an important step forward for the profession of music therapy for other music therapists.

[Kathryn Costanza]

Also, I work occasionally with Adam’s Camp (an intensive, week-long, therapy camp), specifically with young children with developmental delays. All of this information regarding developmental stages, milestones, and the musical levels of development will be invaluable for something that intensive and brief.

[Kathryn Costanza]

I’m planning on becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider with NeuroRhythm Music Therapy Services, and I couldn’t be more excited! NeuroRhythm works specifically with individuals who have developmental disabilities, and primarily children, so the concept of music as part of development in every child is a natural way to reach out into the community and show what music therapy can do outside of clinical therapy. I personally have a great passion for music in development and how that relates to how our brains grow and develop, and Sprouting Melodies is the perfect foundation for pursuing that passion in both the clinic and, eventually, research. Also, the musical resources and thought put into the needs of young children has altered the perspective from which I view my practice of music therapy.

[Kathryn Costanza]

There are two parts that excite me the most about becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider. The first is the unique role of music therapy in the community at large, and not just for people with special needs. Music therapy is an incredible, unique, and powerful skill set that can benefit every human and being able to start providing that for a wider swath of people is incredible positive and important for the profession as a whole. That being said, a close runner-up is the ability to work with young children and families and start to get a broader perspective of development and specifically development through music from the ground up. The role of music therapy as it relates to development and developmental delay is a passion of mine, so this gives me an incredible foundation of information and a community of other amazing providers to better understand music therapy in development.

[Kathryn Costanza]

The interesting thing about groups is the difference between a successful group experience and a successful experience for every individual. It can be quite a challenge to meet both of these needs, especially if you work with large (10+ people) groups like Meredith has. I, personally, have found structure to be the most successful tool to build a foundation for a group so that every individual can be successful in their personal ways while the group still has momentum as a whole. This structure can manifest in different ways, like doing certain types of activities in a certain order (hello, sensory, gross motor, cognitive task, singalong, instrument play, cool-down, goodbye), always singing specific songs for transitions or providing a preferred activity at the end if all work is completed, etc. In intervention planning, I used to plan for “group” play vs. “solo” play with instruments or singing, so I could be assisting an individual, while the group was still engaged as a whole. Also, in groups with varied levels of ability, I would ask higher functioning clients to be leaders or helpers for their peers who needed more assistance. This was always met with excitement and a sense of pride in being a helper. Musically, starting with immediate command, energy, consistency, and positivity always helped me start with the group’s attention and then helped me keep it. Using silence, dynamics, glissandos, range shifts, and tempo changes in particular have been effective methods of maintaining attention throughout activities in the past.

[Kathryn Costanza]

My personal opinion is that the difference between music for development and music for skills building is the difference between the exploration of a passive sensory experience and active participation. Explaining that to parents can be tricky (especially when we may be saying things like “Your baby is really engaged in active listening right now!”), but I feel like it’s a logical distinction, even if there is overlap. It comes down to what you are trying to achieve in that moment with that individual child. Embedded songs with academic information = skill building. Rhythmic Entrainment = development. Timbre differentiation = development. The movement of clapping to the music (Not the rhythmic entrainment) = skill building. The activities and songs used can address both, but never at the same time. As in Neurologic Music Therapy, it really comes down to what we are asking the child to do in that moment and what responses we are looking for.

[Kathryn Costanza]

Multi-age groupings pose many challenges, including music preferences, abilities, what counts as active participation, and appropriate social interaction in a structured environment. For Sprouting Melodies, the distinct developmental abilities and difference in abilities for each individual child appear to be the greatest challenge. I’ve worked with many adult DD groups where ability level varies significantly and have found that pockets of individual interaction interspersed throughout the session can help make sure that lower functioning (or in the case of Sprouting Melodies, younger) participants aren’t left out without losing the attention and engagement level of the higher functioning (older) participants. Keeping everyone’s attention focused and engaged in the structure you are trying to maintain can be a unique challenge with children anyway, so I’ve found that minimizing transition times, having more capable peers act as “helpers” during parts of the session, and using the tools of our medium (music) to capture attention before we lose it using sudden silences, ritardando, glissando, sudden changes in timbre, are all helpful ways to maintain attention over longer periods of time.

[Kathryn Costanza]

5 words to describe SM 3: Active movement, Emotions, Support for the parents, Creative, Deliberate

5 words to describe Family Sprouts: Individuality, Helping, Busy, Joyful, Cooperation

Session plan for SM 3:
Gathering/Greeting: “Good Morning” as an orientation song to the time of day and to give the little ones an opportunity to understand that music is starting, “Come and Join the Circle” (EKS) as a structured activity and to warm up the parents for participation w/o singing and orienting to social interaction, “Gather Round” for imitation.
Bonding: “Wiggly Jiggly Car” and “Hold of Tight!” (EKS) for some sensory stimulation, “Next to Me” (EKS) for orientation to peers and social interaction, “How Do You Do and Shake Hands” (EKS) for facilitating physical social interaction as well as imitation,
Songs About Me: “I Have A Space Around Me” (EKS) to orient the children to both personal space and body parts, “Watch Me Go” (EKS) for more movement an body part orientation,
Instruments: “Do You Want to Play?” (EKS) for conversational initiation and to help with the transition to pass out instruments, “Jingle Up. Jingle Down” (EKS) for very basic one step direction play for those children able to attend to the activity, “It’s Your Turn” (EKS) to facilitate that social interaction and reciprocal turn taking,
Movement Songs: “Can You Follow?” (EKS) to start standing up and hopefully start with a firm structure to the wandering and movement, “Pick Your Hands Up High” (EKS) for movement while standing, but not walking or marching, “All Kinds of People” (EKS) for more marching and moving while pairing specific movements to the scat-like moments in the song, “Come Gather Together” (EKS) to transition back into circle time for the cool-down and goodbye.
Goodbye: “Music is the Way” without instruments as a cool-down and cuddle song with parents, “Thank You Very Much” (EKS) as a social goodbye, “Music Time is Over” (EKS) as the official goodbye song to transition out of the session.

Session plan for Family Sprouts:
Gathering/Greeting: “Hello, Hello, Hello” (Nordoff-Robbins) to introduce everyone with names, “Hey, Hey Come and Play” to start actively moving, following one step directions, and imitating, “Come Gather Together” giving older children the opportunity to sing, but also giving the younger children an opportunity to actively listen and sway with mom or dad.
Bonding: “Row It Faster” and “Hold on Tight” for any older siblings or children to “help” facilitate by modeling, singing, or moving the other children in the group, “My Brand New Friend” to facilitate modeling and social interaction with younger children situated on parent’s laps and older children standing in front of the younger children to model the jump and move around the circle.
Songs About Me: “Who’s That?” to establish a sense of self for both older and younger participants, “Can You See Me” for older children and parents to facilitate for the little ones, “All of This is Me” to provide modeling opportunities for the older children,
Instruments: “Listen to the Sound of My Drum” providing more difficult rhythmic patterns for the older children to follow while keeping the rhythmic expectation consistent for the little ones, “Dorian Dance” so every child can play an individual instrument, but there are more difficult directions to follow for the older children, “I Can Move Around” giving older children the opportunity to continue playing instruments and giving younger children the opportunity to feel their bodies move in time with the music and mimic any sounds being made.
Movement: “I Feel the Beat” provides a concrete structure for a variety of movements that can be individually given to each child based on their ability and developmental stage (4 year old gets to jump, 6 month old bounces in mom’s lap), “The Leaves are Falling” for the older children to move and the younger children to potentially watch scarves as they fall and are thrown,
Goodbye: “Music is the Way” without instruments for cuddle time and bonding with parents, “Thank you Very Much” for the older children to understand manners and shake hands with peers, “Music Time is Over” for a concrete transition out of the music session.

[Kathryn Costanza]

The instruments in my work space are provided by my employer, NeuroRhythm, so I’m not sure which brand of instruments are being used, but we have baby friendly maracas and jingle bells (with the bell contained in a case similar to the shakers), chiquitas, and baby friendly tambourines with the metal pieces contained within a case. We also have a set of scarves, nesting frame drums, more traditional jingle bells, and brightly colored castanets (although we would probably use those for older groups because of the elastic ties). They are all very developmentally appropriate, safe, and easy to clean. Also one large gathering drum.

[Kathryn Costanza]

5 words to describe SM2: Exploration, Playful, Structure, Authenticity, Observation

5 sentences to use with parents: 1. “It’s okay for them to be moving around, you don’t need to make them stop.” 2. “It’s great that they are singing and using the song at home! When they’re comfortable with their learning process, they’ll use it here.” 3. “It’s natural for children to put the instruments in their mouths. When they do, put the instruments off to the designated bin and we’ss clean all the instruments after each class to prevent the spread of germs.” 4. “Your child may not be participating in playing the instrument, but see how actively engaged they are in listening? They are observing and learning and it will come out later.” 5. “See how your child is slowly moving their wrist back and forth with the instrument? They are learning to shake the maraca and planning out their movement.”

Session plan:
Gathering/Greeting: “Hello” (NR) to use with individual names, “Hey, Hey Come and Play!” (EKS)
Bonding Songs: “A Car on my Knee” (EKS) adapted for use with some sensory activity (i.e. tickles, light brushing, squeezes), “Wiggly, Jiggly Car” (EKS), “Watch Me Go” (EKS)
Songs About Me: “I Have a Space Around Me” (EKS) to transition into focus on their personal space and bodies, “My Eyes are On My Face” (EKS), “All of This is Me”(EKS), “I Can. You Can. We Can Sing!” (EKS) for the child to use their voice purposefully and mimic.
Instrument Songs: “All Night! All Day!” (EKS), “Come on Let’s Make Some Music” (EKS) adapted for drum with accelerando, “Dorian Dance” (EKS),
Movement Songs: “More Music” (self composed) to practice ‘more’ sign, “Come On Let’s Make Some Music” with different movements instead of body parts (i.e. clapping, marching, bouncing, walking, rocking), “I Can Move Around” (EKS) to move from circle/lap time to free standing/crawling movement, “Jumping Up, and Jumping Down” (EKS), “Come and Join the Circle” (EKS) to gather everyone in for the goodbye song.
Goodbye: “Thank you very much” (EKS) to facilitate the beginning of social interaction (I LOVED that idea, by the way), Music Time is Over (EKS) with the ‘all done’ sign at the end.

[Kathryn Costanza]

I like to refer to my personal opinion on appropriate stimulation as the Individual Goldilocks Theory of Stimulation. Given that the child is engaging in the task at hand (and it’s normal and fine if they aren’t engaging 100% of the time) there has to be enough stimulation to capture attention and engage, but not so much that the brain can’t process all of the information coming its way. As music therapists, we all know that our medium is naturally stimulating and have had to be aware of when to raise the volume to grab attention, when to create surprise moments (silence, fermata, etc.) to facilitate a specific action, when to change the timbre of the instrument or voice being used, etc. However, every individual has their version of “just right” (Goldilocks) between being stimulated enough to engage and being overstimulated. When it comes to a group setting, it’s much easier to engage group attention using musical cues that create automatic responses such as changes in rhythm, volume, and sudden silence. As always, it is up to the music therapist to be flexible and respond to the group’s needs, or create a musical line of best fit for the average of the group needs.

[Kathryn Costanza]

5 words: Gentle, Slower Pace, Flexible yet Predictable, Sensory, Calm.

5 phrases: 1. “It’s just as important for you to be here to learn the music to use at home” if the child has fallen asleep. 2. “The most important sound in the world to your child right now is your voice” to encourage them to sing. 3. “Your child is very actively engaged in listening right now” if their child is engaging, but not participating with an instrument or movement. 4. “Repetition, repetition, repetition. Then when they do something new, do it 3 more times.” 5. “Use your hands to gently tap on your baby’s body in time to the music.”

Plan-
Greeting/Gathering: “Hello” Nordoff-Robbins version to greet and orient to names, “Hey, Hey Come and Play!” (EKS) to raise energy and start moving,
Bonding/Sensory: “I Feel the Beat” (EKS) to start with a strong rhythmic pulse, “Swimming Together” (EKS) for some vestibular input, “Who’s That?” (EKS) to orient visual field, “Can you See Me?” (EKS) to promote eye contact with parent.
Songs about Me: “I Can Feel my Body” Metro Music Therapy for body awareness and proprioceptive input, “Come on Let’s Make Some Music” (EKS) body part orientation, “All of This is Me” (EKS) same as previous.
Instrument Songs: “In My Little Hand” (EKS), “One, One Play the Drum” (EKS)
Movement Songs: “Hold on Tight” (EKS) more vestibular input, “More Music” (Self composed)to promote signing ‘more’, “I Can Move Around” (EKS) slow it down and reduce dynamic range towards the end to transition into the goodbye,
Goodbye: “Music Time is Over”

[Kathryn Costanza]

It’s been such a relief reading the posted comments! I’m glad that I’m not the only one who hasn’t ever worked with this age group clinically. Even for that, my personal experiences with children this young are extremely limited. I’ve held several newborns and young babies of friends and relatives for up to an hour at a time (usually when they’re sleeping), but never more than that and never in an environment where they were being asked to participate in an activity. Because of my lack of experience, I’m trying to absorb every ounce of knowledge available in both this forum and the videos provided so that I can better understand both the parent’s and the child’s experiences and set my expectations accordingly.

[Kathryn Costanza]

The power of music is manifold, but what strikes me is how music is a natural, inherent, human experience. Regardless of function level, music is an integral part of almost every person’s emotional life, social interaction, memory mechanisms, overall cognition, workout patterns, etc. As music therapists, our skill set requires us to understand, isolate, and use different elements of music to provoke specific responses, emphasize certain behavior patterns, and teach information. That skill set lends itself specifically to a clinical setting, but the benefits of that skill set are not limited to the clinical setting. I love how Elizabeth said clinical goals were targeted towards the “symptoms of physical disabilities”, but more general targets and goals can be applied toward typical function, healthy interaction, and healthy development. Whether we as music therapists are addressing needs in a group for adults with developmental delay, the geriatric population, young children with developmental needs, a typical drumming circle, or a music group with our friend’s children, the effective facilitation of the music makes a difference in everyone’s abilities and lives.

[Kathryn Costanza]

I identify a lot with what Kasey said (and what everybody else said) specifically about how it can be difficult to sell yourself as a provider but how it is much easier to think about selling music therapy as a whole. One thing that struck me was the mom in the video saying that it was clear that every Music Therapist she worked with was passionate and enthusiastic. I think that is very true of every music therapist I’ve met and very unique to our profession as a whole.

It’s difficult to think of what else to add to the eloquent responses above, but I’ll say this: we are specialists, not of a specific domain, but of a specific medium. Our knowledge of our medium (music) includes understanding how it affects and interacts with function in everyday life and that is an extraordinary and unique skill set, especially when you consider how music literally touches every area of the brain. In my words: Music is the ultimate brain hack and I’m the hacker.

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